NINDS - News and Events

Press Releases

Stroke Recovery Rates Slower for African Americans
Thursday, May 08, 2003
African Americans are more likely to suffer strokes and recover from them at a slower rate than whites, and these differences are not simply the result of greater stroke severity. According to Ronnie D. Horner, Ph.D., program director at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and leader of a recently published study, research has found that African Americans who delay their post-stroke rehabilitation recover at a significantly slower rate than whites who experience the same rehabilitation delay. Recovery rates are even lower among low-income African Americans.
Fact Sheet

Increased Awareness of Stroke Symptoms Could Dramatically Reduce Stroke Disability
Tuesday, May 08, 2001
Only a fraction of stroke patients each year are getting to the hospital in time to receive a treatment that makes the difference between disability and full recovery. Thousands more people could benefit from the treatment—a drug called tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA)—but do not, often because they do not know the symptoms of stroke or do not get to the hospital within the drug's 3-hour window of effectiveness. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) is launching a national public education campaign, 'Know Stroke: Know the Signs. Act in Time,' to help people overcome these barriers and to get medical help in time.
Fact Sheet

Drugs and Stress Management Together Best Manage Chronic Tension Headache: Clinical Trial Proves Benefit of Combined Therapies
Tuesday, May 01, 2001
Stress management techniques such as relaxation and biofeedback can help treat chronic tension headaches, especially in combination with medicine, according to research funded by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Results of the first placebo-controlled trial comparing medicines alone vs. medicine plus stress management appear in the May 2, 2001, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
Fact Sheet

NIH Experts Say Few Eligible Stroke Patients Receive Treatments That Save Lives And Reduce Disability
Monday, May 15, 2000
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, a component of the National Institutes of Health, said today that few eligible stroke patients receive treatments that can significantly reduce disability and save lives.

Most People Can't Identify Stroke Symptoms
Tuesday, April 21, 1998
A new study shows that most people can't identify even one symptom of stroke -- the number one cause of disability and the third leading cause of death in this country. And the people most likely to suffer a stroke -- those over 75 years old -- are the least likely to know the symptoms of stroke and whether they're at risk for having a stroke.

Peptides Implicated in Body's Response to Pain
Wednesday, March 25, 1998
Pain is an extremely disabling condition leading to an annual cost of $65 billion lost in work productivity and 4 billion work days. It also accounts for 40 million visits per year to physicians for "new" pain and $3 billion in sales each year of over-the-counter analgesics. Scientists studying animal models with support from the National Institutes of Health have found that a chemical, called neurokinin A, may be responsible for the body's response to moderate-to-intense pain. This finding, reported in the March 26, 1998, issue of Nature, may eventually lead to new treatments for pain.